Plans progress for introduction of subscription charge for garden waste collections

01 May 2019

Further details on the introduction of a subscription charge for the collection of domestic garden waste by Aberdeen City Council have been confirmed as plans progress for implementation.

The £30 charge per annum, for the collection of brown bins containing garden waste, was agreed at the annual budget meeting in March.

It is one of a number of measures to reduce costs and increase revenue which were adopted to help bridge a funding gap of £41.2million as the result of reduced funding, rising demand and growing cost pressures.

Householders will be notified by letter of the full detail prior to the roll-out later this year.

The initiative will require any domestic household requiring garden waste to be collected to register and pay the annual subscription.

Households will be issued with a tamper proof sticker to affix to their brown bins as proof of subscription.

The annual subscription, which will be introduced this year, will run for a 12-month period from the date of implementation on a rolling basis.

The implementation plans, which will be similar to those in other Scottish local authorities, are in the process of being finalised as processes and systems are devised.

Collection crews will be given guidance and training to support the introduction of the subscription charge and ongoing monitoring. Brown bins used solely for food waste will not be subject to the garden waste charge and householders are encouraged to continue to recycle their food waste.

Information shared by other local authorities has indicated that collection efficiency is likely to be impacted initially, with additional resources earmarked for a number of weeks to mitigate this.

The potential for an increase in domestic garden waste being deposited at household waste and recycling centres has been factored into plans, with no significant environmental impacts identified and evidence that there will be limited impact on recycling rates.

A potential increase in home composting and other minimisation activity by customers has also been taken into account when calculating anticipated sign-up rates. The Council will continue to promote home composting as an option.